Dallas police say they caught a graffiti tagger in the act early Sunday in Deep Ellum.

The suspect was a former Dallas ISD teacher, and he's been arrested on graffiti charges a few times before.

Court records identified the suspect as Douglas Edward Chriss, 26.

Surveillance video shows the suspect — identified in court documents as Douglas Edward Chriss — parking his car next to Deep Ellum Self Storage and painting a wall for about a minute, leaving the SUV running.

He goes back and forth between his car and the wall he's painting, before three squad cars roll up and he's taken into custody.

Police didn't know when they made the arrest that the incident was captured on the business owner's surveillance cameras, footage that's likely to help them build their case against Chriss.

Deep Ellum Self Storage stands near Interstate 30, next to a white building that graffiti artists can paint on legally.

Owner Edward Holman likes the graffiti that adorns Deep Ellum, the legal kind, anyway. Years ago, he asked an artist to paint one of the walls of his 14-year-old business.

But in recent weeks, he said, taggers have turned one of his exterior walls into their easel. He's had to paint it four times in the past month to cover up illegal tags.

One tag resembled an animal. Another was illegible bubble letters.

Murals adorn an alley in Deep Ellum, not far from where Dallas police arrested a suspected vandal last weekend.

(Andy Jacobsohn/Staff Photographer)

Taggers are drawn to Deep Ellum Self Storage, but not every wall is fair game in the area.

(Edward Holman)

Edward Holman says he's had to repaint the wall of his self-storage business four times in the past month, and he fully expects to be targeted again.

(Andy Jacobsohn/Staff Photographer)

Graffiti artists are welcome at some spots in Deep Ellum, but not on this particular wall.

(Edward Holman)

Robot murals cover the side of a building in Deep Ellum.

(Andy Jacobsohn/Staff Photographer)

The would-be tagger didn't get very far Sunday before police caught him in the act.

(Andy Jacobsohn/Staff Photographer)

Holman was tired of buying $110 in paint every time to cover up the drawings, so he decided to redeploy a few of his surveillance cameras to keep an eye on the wall that taggers targeted. Motion sensors on the cameras would alert him of movements near the wall.

Early Sunday, Holman was sleeping in his office when the sensors alerted him to an unwanted visitor.

On his big-screen TV, he watched a man drive to a spot on the wall and relieve himself on it. Shortly afterward, another man parked at the same spot and started spray-painting.

"I look up and I'm like, 'Aw, man, there's a guy out there tagging my wall,'" Holman recalled. "It was like fishing."

The artist was only able to outline what resembled the number 7 before cops patrolling in the area rolled up and arrested him on a misdemeanor graffiti charge.